Endocrine Insider
September 30, 2009

(See full issue) 

Due to the efforts of Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), sponsor of the “Medicare Fracture Prevention and Osteoporosis Testing Act” (S 769/HR 1894), the Chairman’s Mark of the Senate Finance Committee health reform legislation includes an amendment to address the payment cuts to DXA services provided in a physician’s office.  The amendment, based on the language in S 769, would set the payment rate back to 70% of the 2006 level.  It would also authorize the Institute of Medicine to study the effect of Medicare reimbursement reductions for DXA on beneficiary access to bone density tests.

Representative Shelley Berkley (D-NV), the sponsor of HR 1894, is working to include a DXA-related provision in the final health reform package that will be debated by the House.

The Endocrine Society has been working with Senator Lincoln and Representative Berkley and a group of coalition partners to address the DXA payment cuts.  The cuts, if fully implemented in 2010, will reduce Medicare payment rates to physicians performing DXA scans in their offices by 68 percent in comparison to 2006 levels.  The Endocrine Society will alert the membership of opportunities to advocate for the inclusion of DXA-related provisions in the final health reform package.